Recent Recipes

Happy New Year to you all!Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and brought the new year in with some fun and fabulous food. I know I certainly did. It was the best new years I've ever had, complete with the one the of the best views of the fireworks in Melbourne without being crushed by a crowd.

It's about time I shared a recipe with you all. I made these one afternoon when I was bored on holidays just before Christmas. They are hazelnut praline truffles, and just simply melt in your mouth. You can't stop at just one. They made perfect last minute gifts for some of my loved ones and a nice dessert for Christmas Eve dinner.The dark chocolate coated ones are complete with flakes of gold leaf.

This recipe I HIGHLY recommend. It can be a bit fiddly, but it's definitely worth the work.

Line a large oven tray with baking paper. Place sugar and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and boils. Using a pastry brush dipped in water, brush sides of pan to remove any sugar crystals. Increase heat to medium-high and boil for 8-10 minutes or until a caramel forms. Stir in nuts then pour over tray. Stand until cool and hard.

Place 400g dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place cream and butter in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat then pour over chocolate. Stand for 2 minutes then stir until smooth. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until set.

In a food processor, pulse praline until coarsely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and stir in chocolate mixture. Return to fridge for 30 minutes. Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls then place on a tray. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Melt remaining dark and white chocolate separately in heatproof bowls over saucepans of barely simmering water. Cool to room temperature. Coat 1/2 the truffles in white chocolate and 1/2 in dark chocolate. Place on a wire rack over a tray then refrigerate for 20 minutes or until set. Decorate white truffles with silver leaf and 1/2 the dark truffles with gold leaf. Dust remaining dark truffles with cocoa. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.